VMS Help PASCAL, Attributes, KEY, Options  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  You can specify certain characteristics of  the  record  key  by
  listing  the  desired  options on the KEY attribute.  With these
  options, you can control the order of the collating sequence and
  you can allow changes or duplicates on a key.

  See the  "Compaq  Pascal  Language  Reference  Manual"  for  the
  complete description of using these options.

1 - ASCENDING

  This option, along with DESCENDING, allows you  to  specify  the
  collating  sequence  for the key field.  By default, the primary
  key and alternate key are ASCENDING.

  When creating a new file, Pascal will create the  key  with  the
  collating  order  specified.  When opening an existing file, the
  Run-Time Library will verify that the existing key  matches  the
  collating  order  specified.  If neither ASCENDING or DESCENDING
  is specified when opening an existing file, both types  will  be
  accepted.

2 - CHANGES

  This option allows you to specify that changes can be  performed
  on the key.

  The default for the primary key is NOCHANGES and the default for
  alternate  keys  is  CHANGES.   You  can override the CHANGES on
  alternate keys with NOCHANGES.  It is illegal to specify CHANGES
  on the primary key.

  When opening an  existing  file,  the  Pascal  Run-Time  Library
  ignores this option.

3 - DESCENDING(see ASCENDING)

4 - DUPLICATES

  This option allows you to specify that duplicates of the key are
  allowed.

  The default for the primary key is NODUPLICATES and the  default
  for alternate keys is DUPLICATES.

  When opening an  existing  file,  the  Pascal  Run-Time  Library
  ignores this option.